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Your 5-minute briefing

March 14 2018, 12:01am, The Times

Every 2p piece made before 1992 is 97 per cent copper, meaning that each coin contains 6.9g of the metal. By 2006 each coin was worth 3pCHRIS HARRIS FOR THE TIMES

1 Britain has moved a step towards abolishing the penny after the government announced a wide-ranging review of the currency in circulation. Ministers are also considering dropping the £50 note and implementing a limit on cash transactions in a measure that could make it illegal to pay builders cash-in-hand.

2 A judge has accepted that the digital editions of The Times are “fundamentally the same” as the printed newspaper but ruled that they do not enjoy the same VAT exemption. Publisher News UK, publisher of The Times, brought a case against HMRC arguing that the daily tablet and mobile editions should be zero-rated for VAT purposes, as printed newspapers are.

3 Philip Hammond promised to ease austerity in the run-up to the next election after…